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John H.

On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 23:29:23 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:15:03 +0000 (UTC), (Bob)
wrote:

Yes, this post is on-topic. I just have to vent...thanks for
listening.

I live in an apartment and store my 17' v-hull I/O runabout boat in a
storage facility. Whenever I need to work on it, I go get the boat and
bring it to her house for a day or two and work on it there...nothing
major -- just routine stuff like winterizing, tuneups, and other minor
repairs or modifications...it's not like I'm leaving a junky boat half
torn apart in her driveway.

All has been well with this situation for the past 3 years or so until
now. A rep of the homeowner's association which regulates the
neighborhood my girlfriend lives in called her today saying that the
association regulations prohibit working on boats and that boats could
be loaded or unloaded only on your property.

Where does one practically work on their boat if they cannot work on it
at their house? I cannot afford to have someone do every little thing
to my boat when it needs something done to it. Sure, I could probably
get away with doing small things to it, but what about the other things
like winterizing or getting it ready to go in the Spring? The way I
see it, I am screwed and don't have much choice but to get rid of the
boat. What a depressing thought that is, especially since it is a boat
that has been in my family for 35 years, is running better than it ever
has, not to mention how much enjoyment we get from it.

The short answer is screw them. If you really don't care and the boat
is not there longer than it takes for them to bring legal action there
is really not much they can do.
Certainly they can be mad at you but it is really pretty hard to
enforce rules that are only broken for a day at a time, fairly
infrequently. Basically it is pretty hard for them to hit a moving
target.
This is from the former president of TWO HOAs
I had people just tell me to go screw myself and there really wasn't
much I could do about it. You can always jump through the hoops to get
a lien on the property to try to enforce the fines but that only
affects people who plan on selling soon and who actually have some
equity in the property. If they walk away from the house (which will
be happening about 8 million times in the next year) they walk away
from your "fine" too. My condo association got in line at bankruptsy
court on 5 uinits that were in arrears on fines and fees ... we didn't
walk away with a dime.

I should have read this before my response, Bob. I basically agree with
everything he says.

Take 15 minutes and read the association rules.
--
John H